A plane with 19 people on board slips off the runway and crashes at Nepal airport
A plane has crashed just after taking off from Nepal’s capital, killing 18 people and injuring a pilot who was the lone survivor
KATHMANDU, Nepal — A plane crashed Wednesday just after taking off from Nepal’s capital, killing 18 people and injuring a pilot who was the lone survivor.
All the people aboard the Saurya Airlines flight including the co-pilot were Nepali except for one passenger, who was a Yemeni national, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said. Authorities have pulled all 18 bodies from the wreckage, police official Basanta Rajauri said.
The Bombardier CRJ 200 plane was heading to Nepal's second-most populous city of Pokhara for maintenance work and most of the passengers aboard were either mechanics or airline employees, airport officials said. They were speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.
The pilot has injuries to his eyes but his life is not in any danger, said a doctor at Kathmandu Medical College Hospital, where the pilot is being treated. The doctor spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak to reporters.
The plane took off from the Kathmandu airport at 11:11 a.m. local time and turned right but crashed moments later in the eastern section of the airport, the Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement.
“I came out and saw a plane had crashed and there was huge smoke and fire coming out," said Ram Kumar Khatri Chetri, who own a car parts store barely 100 meters (330 feet) from the crash site. «There was chaos and confusion.”
“It was just horrible and there was no way that anyone could just go near the plane and help out when there was so much fire and even explosions,” he said.
It is the monsoon rain season in
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